According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, did you know that 85% of job success comes from having strong, soft skills? That’s right – only 15% of job success is due to technical ability. This means that if you want your employees to be successful, you need to focus on developing their soft skills. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of soft skills and provide tips for improving your employees’ soft skills.
Why are soft skills so important?:
It Can Point Toward Longevity Of An Employment Relationship
Another study by the Society for Human Resource Management showed that 82% of employers said they would instead hire a candidate with lower technical skills but good soft skills than a candidate with higher technical skills but poor soft skills. This is because soft skills indicate an employee’s ability to work well with others and be a team player. They also suggest an employee’s ability to be a good problem solver and have strong communication skills.
Facilitates Growth
One of the most important reasons to focus on soft skills development is that it facilitates growth. When employees can work through difficult conversations, manage their emotions, and navigate challenging relationships, they can thrive in an organization. They can take on new challenges with confidence and be more effective when working with others.
Improves Productivity
Not only does soft skills development lead to personal growth, but it also leads to improved productivity. When employees can effectively communicate and collaborate with others, they can achieve more as a team. This is especially important in today’s workplace, where teams are often dispersed across different locations.
Enhances Employee Retention
One of the greatest challenges for employers today is recruiting and retaining top talent. Focusing on soft skills development can help employees feel valued and committed to your organization. This will improve retention rates and make it easier to recruit new staff members.
Improves Brand Reputation
In addition to enhancing employee retention, investing in soft skills development also improves your organization’s brand reputation. When employees can effectively communicate and collaborate with others, it positively reflects the company. This can make potential customers or clients more likely to do business with you.
Develops Leadership Skills
The development of soft skills benefits employees, as it improves their leadership skills. Many employers have complained about the lack of leadership among their staff members. It’s often an issue that is embedded in the culture or structure of a company, but at times it can be traced back to skill gaps within individual employees. Thankfully, soft skills development can help to mitigate the issue.
Helps You To Stay Organized
If you can develop your employees’ soft skills, they will be better organized and handle their work more efficiently. This means they will be less likely to miss deadlines or make careless mistakes. Additionally, by being better organized, your employees will appear more professional and competent to those who might be watching them.
Tips For Developing Employees Soft Skills
1) Encourage employees to take on new challenges.
When employees are given new tasks and responsibilities, it helps them develop their soft skills. This is because they will need to learn how to manage their time and resources to complete these new tasks effectively. Additionally, by taking on new challenges, your employees will become more adaptable and flexible, which will enable them to perform better when faced with new situations in the future.
2) Provide frequent feedback.
As a manager or supervisor, it is your responsibility to provide your employees with frequent feedback on their performance to improve upon their weak areas of work. However, most people do not like receiving negative criticism because this could damage their self-esteem and make them feel like you are being too harsh towards them. Therefore, it is important to provide positive feedback, which will help your employees feel appreciated and motivated to do better in the future.
3) Develop a good working environment.
Positive and happy work culture will encourage your employees to work harder and more efficiently, which will result in better productivity levels for you as well! In addition, a good working environment can be created by providing adequate training opportunities and encouraging teamwork amongst colleagues through team-building activities such as going out on lunches or dinners together occasionally.
4) Provide Training Programs.
Training programs are one of the best ways to help your employees develop their soft skills because they acquire new knowledge and hone existing ones. These training programs can either be conducted in-house or outsourced from other companies specializing in this area. If you decide on outsourcing these services, make sure that you choose a company with vast experience and expertise in developing soft skills so that your employees will get the maximum benefit out of it.
When choosing a training program for your employees, it’s essential to consider their needs and interests first before anything else. For example, some people may prefer learning about diversity in the workplace, while others want something more practical like customer service skills or time management techniques. It all boils down to the type of soft skill development you’re looking at – diversity equity and inclusion training, communication workshops, or leadership coaching.
5) Encourage Collaboration.
Collaboration is one of the most effective ways to develop soft skills because it allows people from different backgrounds and levels in their careers to come together for a common goal – success! In addition, this will help them learn how they can work with others who may have different perspectives than theirs, which builds trust between co-workers and understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
You can encourage this type of teamwork among your employees by creating a collaborative space where they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts without feeling judged or belittled (i.e., not being told that “this isn’t going anywhere”). This may include an open door policy for management so everyone can feel free to approach them with their ideas and suggestions and team-building exercises that take place outside of the office.
Developing your employees’ soft skills is critical for organizational success. By implementing some or all of the tips mentioned in this blog post, you’ll be on your way to creating a more cohesive and productive workforce!
